Echoes: A Blue Gender Fan Fic
by Aronimus
Summary: The Blue have overrun Earth, and a youth without a family takes up the way of a soldier...but, when he is sent on his first mission to Earth, his whole life changes.
1. Dust and Echoes

Echoes: A Blue Gender Fan Fic  
  
1  
  
Delta  
  
Silence…so presumably understood by the human mind, yet so far from such in the reaches of cold, dark space. The enveloping shadows and ever present abyss which not even the brightest illumination could penetrate, captured all noise and effortlessly, yet almost ominously, sucked it all into an echoless…silence.  
  
Above…there was nothing. Any human mind that had endured all the trials of the past fourteen years did not even venture to ponder the dynamism of such a massive…absence, such as the outer space that surrounded them unconditionally.  
  
Below; Earth…From such a distance it looked so still and so calm…yet, the pain and feeling of doom left there, forsaken, was so unfathomable and so terrible to even offer a thought to, that most forced themselves to forget those precious memories that had been so viciously raped of their divinity and broken into a dream of darkness and despair.  
  
A way out? Pondered countless times, yet, lately forgotten in the reality of it all…There was none. Earth; the home that they had all taken for granted and now longed for so profoundly…had been ravaged and pillaged of it's once brilliant luster and invaded by a swarm so unlikely…so, impossible; The Blue.  
  
Fourteen years since that fatal accident…a mere biological mistake became, in fourteen years time, the breaking of all civilization on the planet…They were a mutated race; self reproducing, self evolving. Everyday growing stronger, everyday growing more hated and less feared. No one was ever quite sure how they were created…but, so far into their coming, no one cared anymore.  
  
A repulsive race of biologically mutating monsters…they multiplied so quickly, and no matter how quickly they were to die, they would never cease their veracious crusade against humanity…and no one knew why.  
  
But, of course, that mattered little before long…The Blue were uncontrollably. They murdered thousands…millions…billions…without bias. They hewed the so proudly erected urban world that humans had created, and, those that could escape were confined to a depressing barge in space, called Second Earth.  
  
Locke was one of the tortured and deprived civilians that were evacuated so long ago to the bleak future that endless space provided…He was taken from his home at the age of four, leaving behind all memory, all the love of a family and friends, and often he thought and wondered on the stories told by the older evacuees; the stories of home and the old Earth that was now confined to nothing but longing wishes and tales.  
  
But, that past was lost and no one wished to crush their hearts even more by recalling it…so they didn't.  
  
Locke had no life to go back to. Not a friend in the world, and no family to come home to, either. Instead he fell to occupying his time by enrolling in the military academy on Second Earth, and, since the age of thirteen, he had resorted to honing and expanding his abilities and skills in the favor of the military…the most prized and needing of the organizations sanctioned on Second Earth.  
  
And it was then, five years later, on his eighteenth birthday, that Locke was enrolled on his first assignment…  
  
"Here are the grounds…The Alpha and Bravo Tactical Assault Teams are pinned down in Sector 204...that's on the edge of the Sahara Desert…they were originally deployed to set up a defensive perimeter in the area, which houses a sleeper cryogenic facility. Once they had deemed the area clear, the Sleeper Recovery Team was to be sent to evacuate the last sleepers in the area…that was scheduled for two days ago.   
  
We lost contact with the Charlie Tactical Team, which was deployed at the same time in conjunction with the Alpha and Bravo teams, that same day. Since the Charlie Team has gone missing, a swarm of Blue has been inheriting the area, and the other two teams are having a hell of a time keeping them at bay…And, that's where you come in.  
  
Your orders are clear…you are assigned to be placed in the area via aerial drop. You will clear and secure the southern flank, apparently where the Blue have been coming from. Once you have driven out the Blue, you will establish communication with teams Alpha and Bravo…then you will give the go ahead for us to send in the Sleeper Recovery Team.  
  
You will be extracted via drop ship after the sleepers have been evacuated…Move out immediately."  
  
General Warner handed a small envelope to the team leader; Captain Tom Brookshire, then offered a distracted salute, dismissing the small band of soldiers.  
  
Locke was by far the youngest and most underestimated member of the Team, and was known for having his head in the clouds…in fact, he had to struggle to pull himself out of thought of the upcoming mission. Sure, he had mastered all the training courses and simulations that the military had to offer…but, the thrill of actually blowing away the Blue, face to face, was something he could not wait for…no matter how feared they may have been.  
  
"C'mon, kid…" Captain Tom gave the boy a passing nudge as he left the briefing room at the end of the line of soldiers, yawning calmly…almost idly…at the circumstances of the mission. Tom was a worn and versed soldier of the Second Earth army…a few gray hairs accented his crudely shaven jaw, and his bald head wasn't even visible under the old bandana he wore constantly. Few soldiers could amount to Tom, and most either envied him or marveled at him.  
  
Locke was guilty of both.  
  
"Oh…right." Locke rubbed his face to bring himself back to reality, filing in behind the four other members of the Delta Team…This was it. 


	2. Sector 204

2

"Breaking the atmosphere in…thirty seconds." The small drop ship pod was nothing but a too often seen occurrence to those on the surface…Both the Blue and the survivors who had been left behind in the jump to escape Earth so long ago. The humans below despised the simple sight of that miniscule orb in the night sky they called 'Second Earth', and they equally hated seeing dozens of military ships drop in everyday to fulfill trivial missions…their lives, to those of Second Earth, had become obsolete.

As the pod came into the atmosphere, the cacophonous din of the fuel exhaust was nearly unbearable. Locke and the rest of the team sat in the personnel bay of the small ship. They were a colorful group indeed, but effective at what they did…Captain Tommy, as they called him, one of the most honored and celebrated veterans out there. He was rumored to have been offered the promotion to General, but didn't want to pull himself out of the action, so he retained his captaincy.

Then there was Kitty Heron; only two years older than Locke, with a fiery attitude and notorious stealthy battle techniques. She, at times, resembled Athena the Goddess…Beautiful and without compare in war.

Lieutenant Leon was another. An expert with the armored mechanized warrior they called 'Shrikes', yet a naturally quiet man. Most knew little of his past, but all felt his presence of concealed anger and battle fire.

Lieutenant John Baron was the communications specialist of the Delta Team. He was skilled in all manner of technology, yet somewhat lacking on the battlefield. Either way, he was an invaluable asset to the team…just as everyone else.

"Descending en route to Sector 204...hang onto your seats, boys." The pilot's voice met the ears of the team promptly…raising that feeling of anticipation and anxiousness that as inevitable at the dawning of a mission.

Locke checked his rifle calmly, then gripped it tightly and narrowed his eyes determinedly. He was undaunted by the premonition of the task. Captain Tommy was intrigued by this…"You know, kid…most young un's like you are scared out of their minds on the first mission."

"Hmm…Maybe they were afraid of the Blue. The way I see it…the Blue should be afraid of us."

Tommy bellowed laughter for a moment. "You can tell them that when you're surrounded by four towering insects that know nothing but killing you…"

Locke smirked.

"You gotta make a choice right now, Locke…From this point on, you gotta decide if you're going to live for tomorrow…or if you're gonna live for today!"

---

The desert was so still, so quiet. The only thing the eye might notice was the ever shifting sands in the curling wind.

"Hit it, boys!"

The blast door on the back of the personnel bay of the drop ship exploded off the hull of the vessel, falling down on it's journey to the surface.

Diving out of the ship, one by one, came the Delta Team…each armed with an air discharging jet pack…The five fell through the air expertly, holding their guns against their bodies and keeping straight and stiff, as to fall quickly and without much pressure against them.

As they neared the surface at a wavering rate, Captain Tommy roared out to the rest. "Now!"

And so it began.

They all activated their dischargers, and the air propulsion tore them into a standing position as they fell. The dischargers shot hyper driven air downwards, dampening the force of the fall and, by the time they reached the surface, they hit the ground lightly.

Once they touched down, there was only a show of expertise to be seen…In silence, they fanned out, at least twenty yards apart each. Bending over low and gripping their rifles in anticipation of enemies, they set up a steady perimeter around a pivot area…a large ejection of boulders and rocks upward in the middle of the flat deserted land.

There was calm and stillness…

They remained unmoving and silent for many lingering moments of absence. No sign of the Blue…no sign of humanity.

"Alright, team, let's reel it in…" Tommy lead the soldiers to the top of the boulders, where they would sit and wait.

"Mission specifications say that we should be receiving two Grapple Class Shrikes and a Sniper Class Shrike before nightfall…for now, we'll just have to rough it and take on all these Blue ourselves."

A burst of laughter followed…For the seeming urgency of the mission, there was not a single enemy creature in sight. Not even any evidence that they had been there. "Locke, you go down there and setup a stationary…and be quick about it."

The new soldier nodded and went about his task…leaving Tommy to address the older soldiers while he was gone.

"There was another thing that General Warner included in this mission specifications…" He held up the envelope, and turned it over so that it dropped out a small note.

"He wants us to make sure that we make all possible efforts to avoid running into any survivors…he's unsure of how the kid will react on his first mission, y'know, having his family left here and all. He is not to know about the survivor policy, got it?"

A chorus of nods.

"Sir! I got the gun set up! I also spotted some movement in the distance to the north…in the hills, sir!" Locke called up to Tommy as he made his way back up the rocks.

The captain peered through his binoculars to where Locke had directed…he saw flashes of light. It seemed like grenade explosions, or gun fire…He couldn't be sure.

"Hmm…we'll investigate later on, when we have our Shrikes." Tommy replaced his binoculars and glanced over the edge of the mesa-like formation of boulders that they sat upon.

"Hey, Locke…I thought you said you set up the stationary down there."

"…I did, sir."

Tommy looked over at the younger soldier and quirked a questioning eyebrow. "Then why is it not there?"

Locke crawled over to the edge to look, as well…but, when he got there, he discovered the cause of the sudden disappearance in the most unwanted way…

A sizeable Blue, at least fifteen feet tall, and colored the same way as the grains of sand, exploded out of the dunes, surging upwards with an unsettling rattling and clicking noise. The insect-like monster hovered only a few short feet from the mesa, and screeched horribly in the face of Locke and Tommy. The two were taken completely by surprise and were left frozen in their shock.

The Blue reared back it's massive right claw and poised to maim both humans in a single swipe, and, had it not been for the intervention of Leon and Kitty, that would have been reality.

Kitty seized Locke around the neck and pulled him backwards with one arm, the other holding up her rifle towards the mutation's head. She pulled the trigger and began an onslaught of bullets streaming into the Blue's face, while Leon recovered Tommy as well.

"Go back to your pits, you bastard!"

Five beams of lead rounds met the Blue's head, and it was only a matter of time before the vulnerable spot in the middle of it's skull was pierced, killing the monstrosity immediately, and dropping it's repulsive body to the ground.

The team was left breathless, by both the sudden exertion and the surprise…As they struggled to regain themselves, Tommy gave his next order. "Maybe we should stay away from the sand…"


	3. The Desert

3

The Delta Tactical Assault Team stood by, watching crestfallen as the military carrier swooped in, dispensing it's cargo, three armored shrike mechanized mobile suits, over a league from where they sat, high above the surface, where they could feel the presence of the Blue…lurking below, unseen.

"Damnit! Don't think they could drop 'em off anywhere near us…" Tommy was furious…In order to acquire the desperately needed Shrike support, they would have to make their way across that long stretch of sand…without being felled by the Blue waiting beneath the reaches of sand.

"Alright, team…we have only one choice, so there's no reason to sit around thinkin' about while we let the sun disappear behind them hills…I'm going to be as quiet and quick as damn well possible, and make it over to our Shrikes…I'll board one, and use it to cover the rest of 'yer, so that you can make it over here and take command of the rest…Alright?"

Three of them nodded…another came forward. "No! You're the best soldier out of any of here, Captain…we can't afford to lose you. I will go instead." Locke shoved a new clip into his rifle.

Tommy, as well as the rest, were saddened by this decision…They were all firmly expecting him to be killed in the effort. "Locke…you're either insane, or brave…let us hope it's the latter." Kitty tied a red ribbon of cloth around the boy's forehead, nodding confidently to him.

"Damn kid…you've surprised the hell outta me…" Tommy grinned to him, patting him on the shoulder and pointing his rifle out towards where the shrikes had landed. "You bring me back one of those babies…and you'll be the hero o' the day."

Locke winked recklessly to the rest, then dove off the edge of the mesa, and hit the ground sprinting.

He didn't care about death…he didn't care about chances anymore. Humanity had already taken the greatest chance, and he felt it his duty to do whatever he could, no matter the danger, to aid his comrades, and prove himself as more than just the "Kid".

He'd cleared half the way…not a Blue to be seen. A hill loomed ahead of him, and he set about climbing it in the quickest fashion he could muster. Scrambling up the rocks, gaining any hold he could in the jagged incline, he disregarded any pain in the journey…he was beyond feeling pain.

Upon reaching a level ledge near the top of the hill, he risked a moment to stop and catch his breath…such a risk that almost killed him.

A similar looking Blue to the one they had dispatched earlier rose ominously from the sand, somewhere near the base of the hill. It shook it's head, as if to shake off the mounds of grainy sand mounted there, then looked around…before it's eyes found Locke, a short distance above.

"Oh sh-" Locke didn't have the chance to curse the Blue before it was upon him. The massive insect's wings went to work, flapping at a blinding speed and emitting that eerie clicking noise that so many humans had come to fear…The Blue roared upwards, high above Locke, then took a dive down at the lone target…claws first.

Locke's eyes widened in momentary horror…He couldn't even imagine the terror that the people of Earth had to go through during the invasion of the Blue. He was too young to have any recollection of that time…and for that he was glad.

Stumbling backwards, Locke raised his rifle to aim dead center at the forehead of the giant bug…He shoved back on the trigger and a salvo of bullets came ripping towards the Blue. The beast screeched in pain, but, this seemed only to prod it to brave greater lengths to kill Locke…It was coming down at a dizzying speed, and Locke's aim struggled to follow the Blue as it moved so quickly…but he failed.

Locke gave up trying to hit the monster, dropped his rifle to dangle on it's strap below his shoulder, bowed to the oncoming Blue defiantly, then turned and ran to jump off the edge of the hill.

The Blue hit the hill with amazing force…sending up a dense cloud of dust and shifting dunes for dozens of yards away. Silence ensued, and Locke hit the ground, rolling, with a dull and painless _thud._ He stood quietly and looked to see if the insect was dead…he didn't dare stray back over the hill, as to not be ambushed again, or, be smitten if the Blue was still alive.

Moments passed…and, nothing. Locke sighed of relief and scratched his head calmingly…yet he was almost dropped in shock when he heard the clicking of the Blue's wings again. The same monster struggled up to the top of the hill, looking frantically around for a sight of Locke…it's pain was beyond recognition and the only goal it had left in life was to find and kill the one who had inflicted it. It was the madness of the Blue…something few humans knew.

When it had spotted Locke again, it screeched deafeningly and tried painstakingly to take flight again…and, although he could tell the monster was in anguish, it would stop at nothing…save death. 

Locke tore a fragmentation grenade from his belt, flipping out the pin with his thumb and hurling the small device with all the strength he had, up the hill straight towards the Blue…

It fell short, yet served it's purpose. The grenade sent a sheet of blinding sand up against the Blue, raking it's view and sending it into a blind frenzy. Locke roared in anger and fired several bursts with his rifle, all straight at it's head…before the insect fell to the ground, it's head punctured with bullets and grenade shrapnel.

Locke smirked and dusted off his gloves…and as he turned to continue on to his destination, he heard a call of cheering and congratulations from behind him…maybe the team had finally accepted him?

---

The next day brought the team's first opportunity to flush out some of the Blue in the area…Leon and Locke manned the two Grapple Class Shrikes and took to patrolling the area, routing out any Blue that they found, and pointing them out to Kitty…who manned the Sniper Class Shrike, sitting atop a mass of rocks in the distance, ready to cut down any Blue with ease and precision.

Tommy and John sat idly on the mesa, in attempt to set up radio communications with the other two teams supposedly stationed in the sector.

Since noon, there had been little to no sign of any movement, ally or enemy, nearby. "Maybe you scared 'em away, Locke?" He heard Kitty's com-link and laughed.

Tommy, at length, held up his radio link to the shrikes, and spoke distractedly. "Maybe one o' you should go check out the hills to the north…y'know, where we saw the gunfire. Maybe it's someone we know."

"I'll go…I don't think I'll be running into any more hidden Blue this time…" Locke chuckled and turned the twenty foot tall mechanized suit, and set out across the desert hills.

The Armored Shrike resembled something of a towering suit of army…except, very modernized and wielding a deadly grappling arm designed specifically for special purposes, and, of course, dispatching Blue….In these times, almost everything militant was designed with the Blue in mind. Humans could no longer afford to fight each other. If they wished to preserve their race…it was the Blue they fought, and no one else.

It wasn't long before Locke came over the raise that he had seen the gunfire erupting over earlier. He took a moment to examine his surroundings…and when he spotted a massive, cavernous hollow in the side of a mountainous heap of boulders, his curiosity overtook his logic and common sense…and, that is where he headed.

The sun's ray cut into anything that stood in it's reach in the expansive Sahara Desert, the same way it had for thousands of year…It was one of the few things that the Blue hadn't been able to change. The cave's entrance was mostly illuminated by the light of the beating sun, yet the cool, calming shadows inevitably fell around it's interior. Locke clicked on the searchlight mounted on the shoulder of the great Shrike, and the cave proved to be oddly shallow, yet adorned with several ledges and niches all around it's arching dome shape.

Locke focused for a moment to scan every inch of the cave…and, when his eyes fell on a pile of mutilated corpses in the center of the cavern, laying hunched against the wall, he was struck with an unnerving horror. "My god…" He dropped out of the cockpit of the mecha warrior, and dared to venture over to the carcasses…They were dressed in Second Earth military uniforms.

"The Charlie team…?" When it dawned on him, the fate that had befallen the soldiers, he was horrified.

_But…Why didn't they try to get help? Why did they just stay in here and waste away? Couldn't they have come out? _Many thoughts ran through Locke's mind, but, it was only a matter of moments before the truth came to him…In the form of dozens of Blue.

The silence was shattered awfully as a chorus of hustled clicking filled and echoed through the cave. Locke wheeled around to see at least a score, if not two, of Blue emerging from beneath the sand near the mouth of the cave. Their presence was menacing and sinister…and their faces, although unable to express, seemed to smirk in delight across the cave at Locke. He was trapped this time…no way for an astute escape anymore…he had only a single choice; To go down fighting.

Although, when the time came to serve a valiant and heroic death, falling at the feet of the enemy, while inflicting as much pain and death as he could…Locke realized that he had left his rifle in the cockpit.


	4. Grounded

4

Locke shrunk against the craning cavern wall, eyes with fear. His heart turned over in his chest as he witnessed the band of Blue torturously move closer to him, brandishing their claws, just waiting to violently gore the soldier to his death.

There was a feeling of sadness, rage, and fear, all fused together in the boy's mind to form a sickening, heart wrenching feeling of pain and torment. He was inwardly lamenting his own dying, although it had not yet happened…_So, this is what it must feel like to be sentenced to death._

He search his body for any form of consolation, retaliation…anything that might be able to help him. The sound of that wretched clicking filled his mind and he was left unable to think straight…he could feel sweat rolling down his face. His eyes caught a few drops, and their salty texture half-blinded him. He may have cried out, or set about sobbing, if there was not that last-chance feeling of urgency that compelled him. Locke, filled to the brim with courage and determination, even in the face of death, would not give up so easily.

He began to feel the sensation of spinning…he felt dizzy, nauseous. He wouldn't be able to stand any longer. His eyes rolled back into his skull, and he blacked out…but not before his hand met his belt, grappling desperately for the grenade that he had felt with his fingertips. One hand pulled it loose, the other struggling to steady him and hold him up against the wall…a thumb flicked out the clip, but, he couldn't handle being awake anymore. His fear tore him out of consciousness…and as he fell to the ground, the grenade bounced out of his grasp away from him.

The explosion did little in the way of daunting the Blue. Maybe a scratch or splinter…but, it was the after-effect of the great vibration that made all the difference. The creatures in pursuit of consuming Locke stopped for a moment…and the ground began to shake.

The armored Shrike standing before them, they could see, slowly began to sink down into the sand, as well as rocks and sediment beginning to fall into a dome-shaped crater that was quickly forming at the center of the cave…all was collapsing into it, and, they began to feel the ground around them pulling them forward into the pit. The Blue screeched in terror, and, everything in the cave was pulled into the crater's tractor beam-like tug…and, it wasn't long before the weak point in the ground fell through, and, sand, rocks, Blue, the Shrike, and Locke's body, were all left helpless in the fall.

---

_…Am I not dead?_

Locke struggled to open his eyes, but, they stung as sand fell mercilessly into them.

_…Where am I?_

He tried to take a breath, but his mouth was filled with sand as well…instead, he breathed fitfully through his nose. He tried to sit up, and found it incredibly hard…When he did, he wiped his eyes clear of the grit, and found he was almost completely buried in sand .

_…What…happened?_

Locke rose to his feet, to discover a painful headache rush into his head. He turned to examine his surroundings, and learned that he was in something of a catacomb of caves…underground, he imagined. There was also a massive steel pipe running through the caves. In random spots it had the numbers '311' painted on it.

"Hmm…" He rubbed his shoulder, which he noticed ached profusely. His body, all around, felt like a sore heap of flesh…but, although he didn't know what had happened, he was lucky to be alive.

He scratched the back of his head…pondering what to do next. But, it was just then that he heard gunfire and yelling meet his ears. He whirled around and saw flashes of light down one end of the long stretch of caves. Immediately he took off running that way…any sign of human life was a good sign to him.

As he neared the area ahead, he could make out several human forms running around, but, they all seemed to be in urgent distress. Some of them were firing guns at something…

Once he was close enough, he saw what they were all so stirred about…a group of at least half a dozen Blue stalking towards them from down another long stretch of the caves. A thin line of about a score of men, holding automatic rifles, were standing in opposition of them…firing constantly and belligerently to repress the coming Blue, who oddly looked already pained and disabled, themselves.

By the time Locke reached the group of people, he realized that not all of them there were men holding guns…some were women, children, elders. Tents were pitched all around, even some earlier snuffed out campfires. The ones not holding weapons were running around, trying desperately to pack up everything as quickly as possible.

It took only a small amount of time to dispatch all the Blue that threatened to slaughter the camp, yet, the feeling of urgency and tension among them was not dampened.

Locke strayed unnoticed into the camp. Most just neglected his presence, not even offering him a glance…but, a large man, one of the gun fighters, caught a glimpse of him and was furious. "Hey, you!" He pointed his gun in Locke's direction.

The din of the camp went silence…no one made a sound and they all turned to stare at him.

"Who are you?" The man yelled…it was obvious that he was both on edge and angry.

Locke hesitated for a moment, then rubbed his head as he spoke, "Ah, I-I'm Locke…I was in the desert, and I got ambushed by the Blue and I…I don't know what happened after that."

The man was about to yell at Locke again…but then, the armored Shrike that Locke had previously piloted, came strolling into view. It was being maneuvered by one of the gunmen. Before Locke could restrain himself, he cried out. "Hey! My shrike!"

A few of the women gasped, some of the gunmen pumped their guns…the leader roared at the boy. "So it was you who led the Blue here?"

"I…I don't know, we must have fell through…I fainted, I'm not sure what happened."

"Damned Second Earthians!" It was likely that the man may have shot Locke at that point…if not for the intervention of a young woman, who came forward and whispered fiercely to the man. He growled and whirled away forcefully, repeating under his breath…"Damned Second Earthians…"

Another one of the gunmen raised his voice above the heightening noise of the camp. "Let's get moving…you never know if there will be more Blue…now that they have a way to get in."

And the people slowly, but surely began to migrate further down the caves.

Locke watched on, crestfallen, as they all began to leave…He was excited at the fact that he had discovered survivors, and maybe someone able to help him…but, for some reason unknown to him, they all seemed to despise his presence, and, therefore, ignored him blatantly.

"Wait!" He followed along desperately behind them, approaching people individually.

"I can help you!"

"We can get you out of here!"

"Please!"

Eventually, he fell to his knees in angst…he was going to be left behind, left to starve, or be killed by the Blue…all alone. He buried his face in his hands and felt like crying, but, his efforts were cut short when he was seized around the collar of his uniform by a cloaked figure, wandering at the back of the group. The person pulled Locke up near their concealed face so that they could whisper to him…"You listen to me, boy…if you want to live, you will listen to me and follow me. These people have no heart for Second Earth, and especially for it's messengers…"

And they threw a dusty and worn cloak over Locke, concealing his body and most of his face, then continued to walk dauntlessly with the rest…

Locke was taken aback for a moment…then snapped back to reality, drew the hood over his head, then got to his feet and briskly tagged behind the cloaked figure.

__


End file.
